The group points out that in 2000, only 14 companies received venture capital but in 2008, that number had grown to 90. There now are over 160 mobile companies in Silicon Valley. I take issue with them including companies such as Ribbit and Jaxtr, but still, the total number of mobile startups is going up — no question about it. And this data doesn’t include information about startups in, say, New York or Seattle.

I have heard again and again that Asia and Europe are so far ahead of us in the shift to mobile — and how it will apply to developing countries that don’t have any other phone service — that we can’t even catch up. Whoever makes apps that create browser-type experience for the people in Africa and Asia and South American with “ordinary” phones will win.

When we were pitching last summer, the message from Sand Hill road was very clear: “Nobody has made money from phone software yet, come back with revenue”. It didn’t feel like there was any shared risk on offer. We went to Europe and heard a very different story. There was and is still strong belief in mobile over there.

I’ve recently been demoing to a few VCs I know and the message is very different – good teams with delivery records and a good product and now in demand. Mobile is in vogue again. Still, all the really great ideas have already got money in Europe ;-)

I think the risk for Silicon valley is that despite Apple’s success there is still not a good understanding of mobile development in the infrastructure such as the VCs (or I would risk, in the engineering culture). Europe is still leading the way. Bay Area developers (rather than Silicon Valley) will no doubt do well in mobile but it will be by building upon its previous web success that by actually leading in mobile. Luckily, the market is big enough that there is a prize for second place.